Recent statistics, issued by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy, updated as of end-July, show US LNG exports have opened up a comfortable lead over US LNG imports year-to-date.
Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass terminal along the Texas-Louisiana border shipped the first-ever LNG export out of the lower 48 US states on February 24 this year, on the tanker Asia Vision that carried a cargo to Brazil. Between that path-breaking day and July 31, DOE data show Sabine Pass logged 21 outbound LNG tanker voyages hauling a total of 63.47 billion cubic feet (bcf) of domestically produced LNG to world markets.
Shipborne LNG imports for the seven full months ending July 31, meanwhile, were recorded as 53.07 bcf, all coming from Trinidad, with July imports totaling just 5.7 bcf versus 15.7 bcf in exports.
This denouement fulfils an earlier US Energy Information Administration (EIA) projection that America would become a net LNG exporter during 2016, overturning the reality of a decade ago when LNG imports were seen as a rising market.